The station signed on August 18, 1946 as WKNB (for Kensington-New Britain), under the ownership of the New Britain Broadcasting Company. NBC bought the station in 1956; however, its main purpose in acquiring WKNB was to obtain its sister television station, WKNB-TV (which it renamed WNBC; it is now WVIT). Attempts were soon made to divest WKNB, supposedly because NBC was embarrassed to own a daytimer in the same market as WTIC, one of NBC Radio's first affiliates; however, the station was not sold until 1960, when both WKNB and WNBC were transferred to Plains Television, which then sold the radio station to the Beacon Broadcasting Company, controlled by Louis Sodokoff, the following year.

In 1962, the station took its present WRYM callsign to reflect its conversion to a beautiful music format — the first in Connecticut. By 1970, it had a middle-of-the-road format; however, WRYM had also gradually increased its ethnic programming, culminating by 1975 with a move to a full-time ethnic and religious format. Ownership was transferred to Hartford City Broadcasting in 1984 after the death of Louis Sodokoff.

WRYM added nighttime service in 1998 upon the construction of a second tower. Six years later, the station was sold to current owner Eight Forty Broadcasting.